


not love, hopefully

by pensrcool



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, X-Ray & Vav (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-16 14:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4628229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pensrcool/pseuds/pensrcool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray has very recently come to terms with the fact that he likes someone more than he should. He’s not over the part where that someone is the neutral evil to his chaotic good, and literally has an evil lair, and is wanted by not only the local police, but the FBI and the CIA (and the Texas Rangers, for some reason), but he’s working on it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

After Ray’s accepted the fact that he has the hots for a super villain (good job him, could you _get_ more cliche), he finds out that shooting lazers at someone while they try to incapacitate you is not the best time for flirting. He manages his zippy one liners, of course (he’s not an _animal_ ), but fails at working in “Hey, you’re hot, when you’re done plotting to take over the city we should go get dinner.” To be fair, he was never good at flirting in the first place. It’s not that he hasn’t dated people before, it’s that the thought of making the first move leaves him paralyzed-and that’s just in situations that are far less complicated and fucked up. God, he can _see_ the look on Gavin’s face when he inevitably finds out, can already make a diagram of the main points he’s going to get lectured on.

So he plays it cool. He doesn’t breathe a goddamn word to Gavin or Hilda, pushes it to the back of his mind as best as possible, and continues on with being X-Ray, hero of the city. Only now he’s X-Ray, hero of the city who wants to bang his head into a wall whenever he sees Ryan- _when did he start calling him Ryan and not the Mad King, this does not bode well_ -who spends more time sitting in his room thinking about Ryan than he used to.

 _It’s not pining if you don’t call it pining,_ he rationalizes.

 

***

 

Gavin’s an idiot. This is not new. Gavin calling Ray in the middle of the night, however, whimpering about how he thinks he broke his arm, is. So Ray gets up, and Ray walks to Gavin’s place, Ray gets a story in pieces about how Gavin fell down the stairs in the dark, and Ray prepares himself for sitting in a hospital waiting room for four hours.

Gavin falls asleep approximately five seconds after he’s not needed to fill out paperwork anymore. Ray’s kind of pissed, but he feels bad enough for Gavin and his probably broken wrist to let him sleep. His phone’s dead, and he has nothing better to do, so he turns his attention to the television that’s hanging up, and learns way more than he wants to about current events. He’s about to get up and start begging the clerk up front for the remote so he can put on literally _anything else_ , but then Ryan’s on, and, whoops, Ray’s paying attention.

He’s broken out, apparently, and no one is surprised. The shot of two serious looking news anchors cuts to footage from a security camera in his cell. Ray watches as Ryan stands, as his crown zooms into his hand and he places it on his head, as he deliberately looks straight into the camera with a smirk and winks before he uses one hand to blow a kiss to the camera, and the other to place two fingers to the side of his crown which causes the camera to dissolve into static.

Ray hates himself for the way his heart is doing flips, and he especially hates how he already knows he’s going to watch those thirty seconds of footage again when he gets home. The girl sitting next to him sighs, and he’s embarrassed by how long it takes him to tear his gaze away from the screen and to her.

“What?”

She shrugs, and gestures at the screen.

“He’s dreamy. And I don’t use the word dreamy lightly. Dreamy’s reserved for Leo DiCaprio circa 1998, and Ryan Haywood every day of his life.”

And Ray can’t help but laugh at that, and he feels slightly better because now he knows he’s not the only person going to hell for liking Ryan.

 

***

 

Ray’s at a coffee shop because he spent all of last night at a stupid hospital. He got maybe an hour of sleep sitting straight up. His neck hurts and he’s going to fall asleep on his feet and he knows he’s getting looks from people because he’s in his pajamas and he hates coffee but needs it. His morning officially sucks.

He takes one look at the line and decides he’s not doing this, and stakes out a place to sit and hopes his general aura of _do not talk to me_ is enough to keep the seat across from him empty. Tables are about as good for sleeping as hospital chairs, but he’s really fucking tired. He gets a good five minutes of napping in before the sound of a chair scraping across the floor jolts him awake. He’s ready to snap at whoever the hell decided to sit with him, but then there’s a styrofoam cup in his hand, and Ryan’s sitting across from him, and all he’s capable of doing is internally repeating _what the fuck._

Ryan laughs at the look on his face, and _oh no_ , this is different from his scheming laugh, this crinkles his eyes and quirks just the one side of his mouth up, this is _cute._

All Ray’s capable of doing is staring. When Ryan picks up on that, he clears his throat and nods towards the cup in Ray’s hand.

“You looked like you could use some.” That kicks Ray back into gear, and now he’s aware of how suspicious this is, how weird, he’s not in a suit to protect him, he’s in his pajamas and the Mad King just gave him a drink and- _oh my god it’s poison, there’s no way it’s not poison, this is how he dies._

He’s about to say so when Ryan speaks again, still looking amused.

“It’s not poison.”

That does very little to persuade Ray because he’s pretty sure he didn’t say any of that out loud, which means Ryan is almost definitely a mind reader, and, hello, terrifying.

On cue, Ryan grins.

“I don’t read minds, either. Just people and situations.”

That… actually makes sense. He’s still not going to drink a drop.

“It’s a caramel macchiato. There’s whipped cream.”

And Ray can feel his resolve weakening, because that’s as far away as you can get from coffee while still getting caffeine. But no. He’s going to hold out, dammit.

Ray still hasn’t said a word. It’s a lot harder to make cracks at Ryan when he’s entirely defenseless and Ryan still looks like he’s in on a joke he hasn’t bothered to tell anyone else about.

“It’s been awhile.”

“You and your friend came to visit last week. But yes, it has been awhile since we’ve had the pleasure of seeing each other without silly barriers like glass or alarms.”

And Ray swears Ryan leans in that much closer. He gulps, and oh so casually leans further back, and Ryan smiles.

“I’m just checking in. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other sooner or later.”

Sure, that’s one way to put it. He watches as Ryan stands and slips his hand into his pocket, before pulling out a rectangular square of paper.

“I have something I think you’ll be interested in. Nothing about your friendly neighborhood bear man, I’m afraid, but hopefully just as interesting.”

He lays the paper face down, then extends his hand, shrugging when Ray doesn’t take it.

“Tell Vav to make sure to wear his wrist brace.”

And then he’s gone.

Ray waits until his coffee goes cold and then throws it out and picks up the paper. It’s a creamy off white, and probably cardstock. It looks like a business card. When he flips it around, he takes a moment to laugh because holy shit, it actually is a business card. It only has two things printed on it, but that’s enough. In the neatest print possible, it reads Ryan Haywood, and right below it is a string of numbers. Ten of them, in fact. Divided in the right places to read like a phone number. And Ray’s not completely sure what Ryan’s trying to tell him, but he adds him to his contacts anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Ray has two minutes to himself, he remembers getting a career pamphlet in high school. He's pretty sure superhero wasn't on there, and he’s definitely sure that almost thwarting a bank robbery with flirting wasn't in any of the job descriptions. He feels a small swell of pride for beating the system.

He keeps the card. It's stupid, because he memorized _and_ saved the number within seconds, and yet he still sticks it into his pocket and runs his finger over the embossed letters ever so often. He skips coffee completely and goes back to Gavin's house, where he's sleeping like a rock. Which is fine. Ray needs some time to think.

When Gavin rolls out of bed around noon, Ray's staring at his phone like it might explode, and Gavin's tempted to ask but he's groggy from painkillers and sleep and just grunts a hello out instead. Ray practically jumps before he shoves his phone out of sight, and okay, yeah, Gavin makes a note to definitely ask about that. Just… later.

Ray helps Gavin stumble around for a little bit before he shoves him back into bed and tells him to sleep enough for the both of them. And Gavin, saint that he is, protests for a couple of minutes before he succumbs to his blanket and pillows.

Now Ray's back to where he started, fidgety and indecisive and without Gavin to distract him. He pulls his phone out and glares at it, as if that will make the right words suddenly appear. When that doesn’t work, he gives it up as a lost cause for the day and does what he does best, and pretends Ryan doesn’t exist.

Once a week’s gone by, he decides to brave broaching the subject to Gavin.

“Hey,” he starts out, but his voice dies in his throat when Gavin turns to look at him and he remembers all the possible outcomes to this. He switches gears.

“So, after the king dude broke out, did he ever pop up somewhere just to say creepy shit and leave?”

Gavin’s nose is wrinkled in thought, and Ray realizes that’s probably not a good sign.

“No. Why would he? Did he follow you?”

And Ray shrugs and denies, because what the hell is he supposed to say?

 _Yeah, actually, he bought me coffee and gave me his number. I think he might have been hitting on me, and I’m way too happy about it, considering it’s Ryan._ No.

“Nah. Just seems like the kind of thing he’d pull. Break out of prison, intimidate some people, melt away.” So they leave it at that. Gavin’s far more concerned with finding things out about Mogar than a villain they put behind bars ages ago who’s "just taking a small vacation from his cell, Ray, why are you so bent on catching him?"

“It won’t be long,” Gavin assures him, on more than one occasion, “We’ve just got bigger problems at the moment.”

Which they don’t. It’s been a month, and Ryan’s doing a surprisingly good job at hiding for someone so high profile. Ray and Gavin have been spending their time putting minor villains into cells that are steadily filling up. Hell, they’re not even villains. They’re criminals. He got called in on a B&E, for fucks sakes. It’s been _boring_. Ray almost feels guilty for how excited he gets when he hears someone’s breaking into a bank. Almost.

They bust in, all capes and colors, and Gavin yells “Stop, fiend!” just as Ray blurts out "Cease your lawbreaking!", because the "in sync" part of "in sync entrance" is still a work in progress. And. Well. Apparently, Ryan's done with hiding. That, or he thinks that creating a throne of money in the middle of the bank he's currently robbing is inconspicuous.

"Hi," he says, complete with a little wave like this is normal, like they're buddies who bumped into each other on the street, like they’re not enemies.

Gavin doesn't skip a beat, just digs into a pocket while he yells "X-Ray, plan sixty nine!"

And _okay_ , chalk it up to his overactive imagination, but Ray’s almost definitely positive that Ryan’s split second eyebrow lift actually happened. Ryan’s facial expressions aside, Ray needs time to protest, because plan sixty nine is a _joke_ , it's stupid and something Gavin had only added because it'd been a long day and he needed a laugh.

"Dude, no! What about the teacup? Use the teacup!" Ray screams at him, and Gavin looks a bit panicked.

"I, ah, don't have it?"

The panic has turned a determined stare, and he's _probably_ trying to convey that this is their best chance and Ray is fucking it up. Motherfucker.

Ryan's still sitting there, looking between the two of them as his face threatens to pull up into a smile.

"I hate to interrupt a lover's spat, but the sooner you fail in catching me, the sooner everyone can get on with their day."

Deep breaths. The plan is easy enough, really. Ray's never had trouble being a flippant asshole. It should be no problem being a flippant asshole long enough to distract Ryan from everything Gavin does, starting with giving Gavin enough time to test the new stealth mode programmed into his suit.

"Aw, come on. You're trying to get rid of me that quickly? And here I was, considering making you my rebound from Vav, only to find out you _don't_ actually enjoy my company. I'm hurt. Wounded to the essence of my soul."

He puts one hand to his chest, the other to his forehead.

"I mean, I guess I should have seen this coming. You've been out for weeks and never called. Way to stand a guy up."

"I'm sorry, dear. I've been busy with work. You know how it is."

And Ray focuses on keeping the look of shock off his face, between Ryan goads, yeah, but making jabs at Ray is very different from going along with him.

"Excuses, excuses. I expect you to make this up to me. Buy me a lobster so I can have one bite and throw it away. And jewelry. Shower me in bling."

Ryan shrugs and throws him a stack of cash from the armchair of his throne.

"Buy yourself something nice."

Ray tsks, shakes the wad of money at Ryan, and tries to subtlety look for Gavin. He doesn't see him, which is probably a good sign.

"Nope. Doesn't cut it. I demand the Ryan Haywood touch."

He briefly considers faking adjusting his glasses so he can take a shot at Ryan with them, but Ryan looks tense, despite the fact that he's lounging, and Ray doesn't doubt that his reflexes are lightning fast. And, you know. There are the terrified bank patrons lined against the wall who Ray might hit if he misses. He walks up to one of them and hands them the money, noting the band that glints on her ring finger.

"You ever have to deal with shit like this from your spouse?"

She still looks terrified, but if there's one thing Ray's good at, it's fooling people into thinking he has things under control. He winks at her and lays a hand on her shoulder, murmurs an 'it's okay,' into her ear before she stops shaking.

"N-no."

"Husband or wife?"

"Husband."

He throws his hands up and turns back to face Ryan.

"Obviously, this lady has much better taste than me. You know what? I bet if her husband was robbing a bank and she showed up to stop him, he'd be glad for extra time with her. You gotta step it up, Ryan."

Ryan shrugs out an apology before he stands, looking bored.

"A successful relationship requires work on both ends. Or all ends, if you’re into that.”

He looks up at the ceiling and locks eyes with Gavin, who freezes. He flashes Gavin a wicked grin, and sidesteps just as Gavin throws something down before leaning down to look at it, seemingly amused.

"I'm mildly impressed. Hilda's done you both some favors. I mean, this is a step up from what I expected."

He gestures to the cube that's pulsating on the floor that he's careful to keep his distance from.

"Don't tell me. It's... Light? No, laser based. Activates on contact with organics and creates a field just a tad bigger than them to keep them secure, I'm guessing. Interesting. Very interesting."

He looks at the cube, and then at Gavin. His grin is just as big when he touches the side of his crown and the cube hovers in the air for a moment before it zooms upward, colliding with Gavin's foot. There's a hiss as it activates before Gavin is trapped in square of light that hums. Ryan looks pleased. Gavin looks pissed.

"Very interesting," Ryan repeats one last time before he strolls past Ray and out the door.

“He didn’t even take any money!” Gavin yells, more distressed about that than the fact that he’s trapped, or that Ryan got away.

They spend another hour or so at the bank. Ray, because he’s talking to cops and getting asked what happened about a thousand times, and Gavin, because he doesn’t really have a choice.

When Ray has two minutes to himself, he remembers the career pamphlet he got in high school. He's pretty sure superhero wasn't on there, and he’s definitely sure that almost thwarting a bank robbery with flirting wasn't in any of the job descriptions. He feels a small swell of pride for beating the system.

Hilda shows up eventually and scowls and looks entirely unsympathetic when she pushes a button and Gavin crashes into the ground.

“Be more careful,” she says.

“Install a failsafe,” Gavin says.

***

It shows up a few days later, in a small brown package that's neatly labeled and addressed to him. Ray pulls out the note first and swears under his breath.

_Not quite a shower. But I'm not quite the one who never called._

Then he pulls out a layer of bubble wrap to find an even smaller box, but this one seems to be made of velvet. This time, he swears out loud. It's a ring. It's shiny. It's in the shape of a crown (because evidently, Ryan's weird boner for royal imagery never stops), and if he runs his finger over it, he can just barely feel the J.R.H. engraved on it.

He isn’t surprised when it fits. He’s also not surprised when trying it on turns into wearing it for most of the day, or by the fact that even after he takes it off, he thinks very seriously about calling Ryan.


End file.
